I’m going to quickly talk about the process of getting in and you can skip below if you don’t care! I went on September 13, 2026.
In order to go to inkigayo as a foreigner, you have to go with a tour group. My friends and I went through the platform called Trazy. It’s a little overpriced but I’ve spent more money on dumber things so oh well. A walking tour is included but we had already visited the tour spots earlier in the week so we skipped it and just met the group at the meetup spot near the SBS building. We checked in and received cards that had our place in line. We were a little late so my place in line was 116. We ended up sitting in the center of the back row but the theater is small so we still had a good view.
My number one tip for anyone who decides to go see inkigayo this way = bring toilet paper in your bag!!!! The only public restroom nearby has no toilet paper and you’re not allowed to use the restroom inside the SBS building!!! In general in Seoul it’s always a good idea to have a bit of toilet paper in your bag as this is more common than you might think.
Anyways you sit down, they tell you that you can’t take any photos or videos (but you are allowed to use your phone), and the show gets started pretty abruptly. The whole thing is fascinating to watch behind the scenes because it’s so insanely efficient.
Some performers prerecord their stage in the morning instead of performing live, and while the prerecorded performance is replaying, some of the performers got up on stage and either did quick interactions with the crowd or danced to the choreo but didn’t have a mic. Some of the prerecorded acts weren’t there at all, I assume due to busy schedules. Some performers were able to stay on stage for their whole song but some were pulled off early so the producers could prepare the next stage.
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Ok onto my thoughts…
Some general things that surprised me:
– Audience members don’t really cheer much for groups they’re not a fan of. Groups that are new and don’t have fandoms yet basically have nobody that cheers for them 😭
– To make up for this, the producers play fake prerecorded cheering sounds on big speakers that are picked up by mics in the audience. When you’re sitting there you can clearly tell the difference between irl cheering and prerecorded cheering.
– There was sometimes random cheering in the middle of the performances. It wasn’t always because the audience was impressed, but because they bring up idols onto the little side stage to prepare for their interviews during some of the performances due to the tight schedule. Once people saw their fave get up there, they cheered a bit. Minho, Evan, and &team all got big reactions when they stepped onto the side stage.
– Idols really do look different in person. Obviously not a huge surprise but before this I’d only ever seen TXT in person. Their heads and faces really are tiny, especially the MC Yihyun from baby don’t cry who I think was a special MC. She was so cute and really had the perfect idol look. I could see her being a standout visual of 5th gen if she gets more opportunities to be in front of the gp.
– Most of the graphics on the screens behind the performers were AI which didn’t surprise me, but it’s something I hadn’t noticed when watching stages on YouTube.
The main fandoms attending:
&team – by a HUGE margin. I had no idea they were so popular. Or maybe there were so many fans because they had a comeback and two members were MCing too. Sometimes it felt like I was at an &team fan meeting that happened to have other famous guests lol.
Minho – of course, he’s a legend. I saw lots of shinee lightsticks and lots of cheering for him. He seemed genuinely so happy to see his fans and he made a lot of eye contact with his fans standing in the front.
Evan & Soyeon also got a LOT of cheers.
The lineup:
– &TEAM
– ALL(H)OURS
– DUETTO
– EASTSHINE
– EVAN
– H//PE Princess
– hrtz.wav
– Jeon Soyeon
– Kim Heejae
– Kwon Eunbi
– Lee Jisoo
– MCND
– Minho (SHINee)
– Monsta X
– Ourbirthday
– Park Junil
– TNX
– Tuide
– Tunexx
– Unis
– VeriVERY
I’m only going to talk about the acts I remember seeing so I’m sorry in advance 😭 some of the prerecorded stages only showed on tiny screens I could barely see.
Eastshine went first and OMG they were so good. I had never even heard of this group before but I could really see their passion and effort. Their live vocals were stable and their dance and rap especially were so good. They were incredibly fun to watch. I looked them up and it seems they’ve struggled a lot and had a few lineup changes over the past 3 years. I really hope they do well moving forward!
H//PE Princess was super fun to watch. Their fans were right in front of me and they were cheering so loudly the members waved at them as they were getting off the stage which I thought was sweet 😭 they were super stable and polished. It was fun to see a hip hop girl group. I looked them up and they came from a show me the money spinoff survival show.
Kim Heejae was sooooo campy in the best way. He came from the Mr. Trot show. Duetto was also pretty campy. It felt like musical theater and their vocal skill was next level.
hrtz.wav were very polished and looked relaxed. Amazing live vocals but I didn’t like their song.
MCND were great performers but the song was a little cheesy. It kinda felt like they were reheating I-dle tomboy nachos and the AI graphics behind them were too distracting.
Lee Jisoo was fun to watch. Her performance was prerecorded but she actually came out with a hand mic and sang along to the prerecorded track. I don’t think she’s super famous(?) but the crowd reacted well to her and clapped along to her song.
Unis’s song was so cute, it sounded like a jpop kpop fusion. I felt so immersed lol they really tore up the stage. Even though I was sitting in the very back row, Gehlee really stood out to me. I don’t know any of their songs other than Swicy but I’m going to get into them now!
&team I am so sorry y’all but their songs were NOT my style. Please don’t kill me. I am mostly a girl group fan so I’m just not the target audience for this kind of music. The fans were going wild though. For sure the loudest cheers by a wide margin.
Ourbirthday oh gosh I feel so bad for this group. The room was unusually quiet during and after their performance. Lots of people checking their phones. The only person doing their fan chant was a late 20s or early 30s man two rows ahead of me. If you watch the performance on YouTube and listen closely you can actually hear him lol. He was really giving it his all but it was really distracting because of how much and how loudly he was chanting. The loud cheering during the ending fairy that you can hear on the final broadcast/ YouTube clip was completely fake and added by the producers in post. It was super quiet irl, just a few people politely clapping plus the one guy who was losing it.
Tuide was SO GOOD I think I’m going to stan 🤭 I know they’re not popular among western fans especially on reddit but their performance felt smooth and confident and they were received very well. Definitely an improvement compared to videos I’ve seen online.
Soyeon was very fun to watch. She’s soooo short and tiny and she looked so happy to be on stage. I loved her song too. She prerecorded but did the choreo on stage with her dancers and I loved the energy.
TNX I’m so sorry but this stage looked like a mess compared to the other ones. I respect the fact that they sang fully live with hand mics but the vocals were unstable and the choreo was sloppy in some parts. Different members had different energy levels so they didn’t look or sound like a cohesive team. The main rapper’s charisma level was much higher than the other members and his part was the only part that drew me in.
Evan also prerecorded and danced on stage during the playback. Unfortunately a producer had to come out and take him off stage before the song finished due to the tight schedule. It was so cute though he really looked soooooo happy to be on stage and he was hesitant to leave. I can’t emphasize enough how happy he looked. He also looked very relaxed and confident. The crowd absolutely loved him and chanted “Heeseung! Heeseung!” After he exited the stage 😭
Eunbi was unfortunately a big disappointment for me. I’ve been a fan of her since produce 48 but she was the only performer who did a full lip sync which really dampened the energy of the stage. She received very little cheering, I assume because the fandoms that were present don’t really overlap with her fandom much. But maybe also because the stage left more to be desired.
Minho also prerecorded and came out to interact with fans. He was so incredibly relaxed, as expected. He walked onto the stage so casually, like he was walking into a grocery store and he was lowkey dressed like it too lol he had on a big fur coat and gym shorts. As expected he really has a celebrity vibe and actor visuals. I’ve been a Shinee fan since 2013 so it felt unreal seeing him in person.
My favorites: Unis, Evan, Tuide
My least favorites: Eunbi, TNX
The winner was Ateez who weren’t in attendance. When they were announced there was a loud “awww” / “ohh” from the crowd rather than cheers 😭 not because they’re hated (I think), but because it was their 5th or 6th win and none of the top 3 potential winners were even there (Ateez vs Bigbang vs Rescene) so we all knew the show was over.
Sorry this was so long winded! Hopefully some of yall find this interesting 🤓
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